Handelsbanken Fonder AB Cuts Stock Holdings in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB decreased its position in Exelixis, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 72,066 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 6,400 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Exelixis were worth $2,400,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in Exelixis in the 4th quarter worth about $6,466,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $782,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Exelixis in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Exelixis by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 18,169 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $605,000 after acquiring an additional 4,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Exelixis by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 9,210 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on EXEL. Wells Fargo & Company cut Exelixis from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of Exelixis from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Exelixis from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Exelixis from $30.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Exelixis from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.24.

Exelixis Price Performance

Exelixis stock opened at $37.13 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.53. Exelixis, Inc. has a one year low of $20.14 and a one year high of $37.59. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $34.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.39.

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.03). Exelixis had a return on equity of 23.52% and a net margin of 24.04%. Sell-side analysts expect that Exelixis, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary C. Beckerle sold 12,210 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.88, for a total transaction of $425,884.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,406 shares in the company, valued at $1,060,561.28. The trade was a 28.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Hessekiel sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.67, for a total value of $2,200,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 486,059 shares in the company, valued at $17,823,783.53. This trade represents a 10.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Exelixis Company Profile

Exelixis, Inc, an oncology company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of new medicines for difficult-to-treat cancers in the United States. The company offers CABOMETYX tablets for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who received prior anti-angiogenic therapy; and COMETRIQ capsules for the treatment of progressive and metastatic medullary thyroid cancer.